A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS A CATALOGUE OF COLLECTORS IN THE FOREIGN PHANEROGAM SECTION OF THE HERBARIUM, NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS, GLASNEVIN (DBN).

ABSTRACT.
A brief history of the Irish National Herbarium (DBN) is given and important collections are noted, Collectors represented in the foreign (extra-British Isles) section of the herbarium are listed with dates and places of collection

INTRODUCTION
The Irish National Herbarium (DBN), at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, was formed in 1970 by the amalgamation of the herbaria of the National Botanic Gardens (formerly DUB) and the Botany Section of the National Museum of Ireland (DBN). Both the Botanic Gardens and the National Museum (formerly the Science and Art Museum) originated through the activities of the (Royal) Dublin Society. The National Botanic Gardens were established in March 1795, whereas the National Museum of Ireland was founded in 1877, though its collections are based on those of the Royal Dublin Society, which was itself founded in 1731.

The Dublin Society was established to promote interest in all aspects of “the useful arts and science’s” (Berry 1915). There is no record of any concerted attempt by the Society to form a museum prior to 1792, when the Irish Parliament provided it with a fund for the purchase of the famous Leskean Collection of Minerals, then being offered for sale in Germany. On November 8, 1792, Richard Kirwan reported to the Society that the mineral collection had been received and that he had also procured “without extra expense ...a Herbarium and Botanical Collections” as well as other natural history specimens (e.g. stuffed birds and insects) (White 1911). This is the first record of a herbarium under the care of the Dublin Society. In February 1796, the Society received a report from Dr. Walter Wade and Andrew Caldwell (see Britten 1916) that the “Botanical specimens . . appear . . to be valuable and in good preservation” (White 1911 ).
In a letter written to James Edward Smith, dated 5 April 1796 (Smith Corresp. 3.21; Linnean Society, London), Caldwell informed Smith of the purchase of the Leskean cabinet. saying that “. ..there came also an Herbarium. Dr. Wade and I were appointed to look that over. I don’t believe it is of much value, but I am not a proper judge having never seen an Herbarium before, except Dr. Wade’s. We were agreed that it was best not to alter or make any addition, but let it remain as an original work, & rest on its own authority. & that the Society in due time should begin & form a new Herbarium for themselves. I suggested this . . .” In March 1796, the Society had asked Wade to prepare a catalogue of this herbarium; he was appointed the Dublin Society’s Professor and lecturer in botany in April 1796, with care of the herbarium and charge of the newly established botanic gardens at Glasnevin (White 1911, Berry 1915).

It is clear that Caldwell’s proposal for the formation of a new herbarium was accepted. A report of the Society’s Committee of Agriculture published in 1796 (after the botanic gardens had been established in March – see Nelson, in prep.) stated that “A Hortus Siccus [is] to be formed, containing as well Specimens of the Plants in the Garden as of all others throughout the World, which can be procured.” This hortus siccus (i.e. herbarium) was intended “for the purposes of Curiosity and Instruction” (see Nelson, in prep.). A volume titled ‘Hortus Gramineus Glasnevinensis’, recently presented by the Botanical Research Institute, Pretoria, may represent a fragment of this early herbarium.

In 1799, William Sole (Savage 1937) presented the Botanic Gardens with a herbarium collection of British mints (Mentha spp.) (McCracken 1972). As noted by Caldwell, Wade had a personal herbarium, and on 4 December J813, Wade reported to his patron, Ron. John Foster, that he had made a collection of Salix, Quercus, Fraxinus, Populus and Acer species as well as conifers. Wade used the specimens to illustrate his lectures as they showed all stages of growth. Wade thought that some of the specimens might not be satisfactory and complained that the cost of “proper paper. ..is severe, which my salary will not allow me to purchase . . . , and which the Society will not pay for . . .” (Foster / Massereene Papers, D207/ 59/20, P .R.O.N.I., Belfast).

John Underwood, the first head gardener (later styled superintendent) of the Botanic Gardens collected specimens from the cultivated plants. Two undated specimens which he collected are preserved in the present herbarium (see Morley 1972). However the work of Wade and Under- wood succeeded, it is clear that there was no extensive herbarium surviving at the Botanic Gardens in 1838, when David Moore became the curator. Moore reported that he had “this season commenced making a Herbarium on a large scale, which I trust will be found a useful and satisfactory accompaniment to this establishment” (White 1911 ). Five hundred specimens were dried in 1839.

In 1847, the Royal Dublin Society resolved to buy the herbarium of Dr. Litton, after several years dispute. This was done and Litton’s collection is fully incorporated into the present herbarium. In 1865, the government undertook the complete financial support of the Botanic Gardens including the herbarium. In 1877, under an act of parliament, the Dublin Institutes of Science and Art were established as a government department, and the control of the Botanic Gardens passed from the Royal Dublin Society to the state. The National Museum (including Natural History Museum) and the National Library were founded by this act, and the Botanic Gardens became a state institution. In 1890, the specially designed museum buildings were completed and most of the herbarium and economic collections from the Botanic Gardens were moved to the new buildings in central Dublin (Ball 1890, White 1911).
Thus the Botanic Gardens ceased to have full-scale herbarium, although David Moore’s personal herbarium of Irish and British plants was retained at Glasnevin (see Colgan and Scully 1898, p. xxx).

Between 1890 and 1970, the tasks of curating and expanding the herbarium were undertaken at the National Museum. Only a small (c. 1,500 specimens in 1970) reference collection of herbarium specimens based on D. Moore’s personal herbarium, mainly of indigenous Irish and cultivated plants, was held at the Botanic Gardens. In 1970, the museum’s botanical collections were transferred back to their former home and amalgamated with the Botanic Garden’s herbarium to form the Irish National Herbarium (Anon. 1970).

COLLECTIONS IN DBN

While part of the natural history collections of the museum, the herbarium received a “very large assortment of duplicates” from the herbarium of Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) (Ball 1890, Johnson 1891), some of which remain to be incorporated. Thus, many collectors listed here may also be represented in TCD. Work on these donated specimens by this author suggests that the specimens were not exclusively duplicates, but that some of the material passed to the museum was unique (e.g. specimens of J.A.L. Preiss which bear anomalous numbers – see McGillivray 1975, Nelson 1978); at the time of transfer (c. 1890) the authorities of Trinity College seem not to have been selective. This “ex-TCD” collection included many specimens from Commerson’s herbarium (see below), and also several specimens collected by Dante d’Isnard in 1712-13 which are amongst the oldest herbarium specimens in any Irish herbarium.

It is unnecessary to enumerate all the larger foreign collections in DBN, as other herbaria cOt:ltain more important material from these non-Irish collections. A few collections are mentioned below to indicate the scope and richness of the DBN herbarium.

As noted above, the herbarium was founded by the acquisition of the botanical specimens from the Leskean Cabinet. No specimens from this collection have been identified in DBN, but a careful search has not been made. Nor have any specimens collected by Wade been found. Specimens from the Lit ton herbarium are extant and identified by a printed label. David Moore’s herbarium is essentially of Irish interest and therefore beyond the scope of this catalogue. However he did collect specimens from cultivated plants, some of which were certainly grown at Glasnevin. These specimens are in the foreign section of the herbarium.

Possibly the most important non-Irish herbarium in DBN is the William Ramsay McNab collection which the Museum bought about 1890 (Ball 1890, Johnson 189J). This herbarium was started by William McNab about 1800 and continued by his son James and grandson W.R. McNab from whose widow it was purchased. Among specimens in the McNab collections are Australian plants collected by Robert Brown (Morley & Powell 1976). South African collections of James Niven including types of Proteaceae (fide J. Rourke 1978), plants from the CHALLENGER expedition. cultivated plants from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (see below) and Edinburgh collected between 1800 and 1840, and European and American plants from the many correspondents of ,the Botanical Society of Edinburgh of which the McNabs are members. Specimens collected by Gilbert (brother of James) and Catherine (their sister) McNab are also found in the herbarium.
In the catalogue an attempt has been made to indicate (by *) collectors represented in the McNab Herbarium. The W.R. McNab herbarium also included British (c. 1600) and Irish specimens collected in the nineteenth century including many historically important collections (e.g. James McNab’s Isle of Man plants, Scottish plants) (see Nelson, in press).

The specimens which William McNab collected from cultivated plants while he was a gardener at Kew (1801-1810) may possibly be of significance in the typification of species described in the second edition of Hortus Kewensis (Aiton 1810). For example seeds of W. Australian Acacia spp. (Mimosaceae) collected by Peter Good were received at Kew about 1803 (Aiton 1810) and the specimens in the McNab herbarium probably were collected from the resulting plants between 1807 and 1808. These living plants were studied by Robert Brown, who based his descriptions of new species on them (Aiton 1810. Maslin, pers. comm. 1978). Thus McNab’s specimens may be types (possibly neotypes; Maslin, pers. comm.) of Brown’s species. In this context it is significant that the Acacia specimens bear names that Brown applied, but which were unpublished when the specimens were collected; the dates of collection were 1807-1808, and of publication 1813.

The foreign herbarium contains duplicate specimens of the Chinese collections of Augustine Henry (orig. in K) (Morley 1979), whose Forestry herbarium is also housed at the National Botanic Gardens (Walsh 1957). The latter is not incorporated into the general herbarium but maintained separately, and includes specimens of trees cultivated in the British Isles which were used by Elwes & Henry (1907) in the preparation of their monograph Trees Of Great Britain and Ireland (some duplicates from the Forestry herbarium are in the main herbarium).

Other significant collections: are Arctic plants from Franklin’s expedition (1825-28) and from the British Polar Expedition (1875) collected by H.C. Hart, Russian plants from Fischer, South African plants from William Harvey and his correspondents (orig. in TCD), James Niven, and D.P. Murray (c. 1929), Australian plants from Ostenfeld (see Nelson & Scannel 1978), J.A.L. Preiss and Robert Brown (Morley & Powell 1976), Indian plants from V. Ball and J.D.Hooker, North American plants, from David Douglas, Thomas Drummond and many others, and South American plants from Harvey, Reed and Miquel Bang.

One recent acquisition should be noted. In 1976 the herbarium (c. 20,000 specimens) of the Department of Botany, University College (formerly Royal College of Science) Dublin was transferred to DBN. This is at present being incorporated, and is notable for a collection of French plants assembled between c. 1890 and c. 1910; it includes many French micro-species, not currently recognised in Flora Europaea.

The oldest collection in DBN is an hortus siccus which belonged to Dr. Thomas Molyneux (Clokie, 1964, p. 213, Scannell 1979) a leading physician in Ireland in the early eighteenth century (Hoppen 1970). Molyneux made botanical collections (which have not survived) and observations in Ireland (Nelson 1979). He studied physic (medicine) at Leiden in the Netherlands between 1683 and 1685 (Hoppen 1970). This “Herbarium Vivum” is a folio volume bound in leather (the binding appears to be contemporary) containing about 500 specimens colleted in the Botanic (Physic) Garden of Leiden University before’ 1661. Ornamental, medicinal and some American, African and Asian plants are included in the collection. A catalogue of this collection is being prepared (Scannell 1979).
The hortus siccus contains Molyneux’s signature and an inscription in his handwriting which indicates that the plants were collected, and the hortus siccus assembled, by “Dominus Gayvian Pharmacopeus Leydensis . . . ex Horto Academica qui Lugduni Batavorum est . . . ”; an alternative rendering of the name as “Gayman” is given by Scannell (1979). It is most likely to be a phonetic rendering of a Dutch surname. No person with this surname, or one like it, can be found in the municipal archives of Leiden (Margadant, pers. comm. 1978). Gayvian named the plants, but William Sherard, “amicus mihi [Molyneux] plurimum suspiciendus et ob Rei Herbariae peritiam merito celebris . . .” annotated many of the specimens with scientific names from Caspar Bauhin’s Pinax. Sherard lived in Ireland from 1690 to about 1694 and visited Dublin, while he was tutor to the family of Sir Arthur Rawdon at Moira, County Down (Nelson, in press). The visit to Dublin took place in 1693, according to the Latin inscription in the hortus siccus. Although Molyneux studied in the Netherlands, he did not collect plants there, as far as can be ascertained. There are no Dutch collections made by him in DBN; the entry in Index Herbariorum (pt. II (4), p. 550) is incorrect as the Dutch collection (i.e. this hortus siccus) was prepared by “Dominus Gayvian”.

The catalogue appended lists only collectors represented in the foreign phanerogam section of the herbarium. The DBN herbarium is divided into four general sections; (I) Irish phanerogams, (2) British phanerogams, (3) Foreign (i.e; extra-British Isles and cultivated phanerogams, (4) Cryptogams. The collectors represented in the Irish and British phanerogams collections are listed by Kent (1957). This catalogue does not include the collectors represented in the cryptogam section.

As far as possible, the names of collectors have been checked by referring to Index Herbariorum (pt. II, A-M), Hedge & Lamond (1970) and Clokie (1964). Very few of the collectors noted here are listed in Index Herbariorum (pt. II, A-M) for DBN (or DUB which was the code used by the National Botanic Gardens, before 1970). This catalogue rectifies that deficiency.

The catalogue was compiled by random selection of herbarium material. No systematic attempt was made to search the collections; in any case that would have involved too much time. After initial work on the catalogue, certain families known to occur in separate geographic regions (e.g. Proteaceae, Australasia) were chosen so that as far as possible all countries would be represented. It is axiomatic that this catalogue is not complete; supplements will be prepared, from time to time, as further Work is carried out.

Given the difficulties in transcribing some of the names from herbarium labels, there may be errors in this list which will be obvious to botanists more familiar with the history of botanical collections in their own country. The author acknowledges that such mistakes are his own errors, and would welcome corrections or comments from other botanists. The assistance of Miss M.J.P. Scannell, (National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin), D.M. Synnott (National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin), and especially Prof.J. Ewan (Tulane University, New Orleans, USA), who helped with the names of American collectors, is gratefully acknowledged. I am also grateful to Bruce Maslin (W.Australian Herbarium, Perth) for his comments on the cultivated specimens of Acacia spp.

The inclusion of a collector in this catalogue indicates that at least one specimen collected by that person is in DBN.; it does not imply that there is more than one specimen.

'Hortus Gramineus Glasnevinensis 1825'. (This contains specimens collected in France c. 1795, and probably was assembled between 1800 and 1808. There is no evidence that Quin collected any of the specimens).